Sacco serves a spoonful of hope with new video
Niagara writer/producer Peter Sacco doesn’t get much sleep at the best of times. During a pandemic, with a girlfriend who works as a nurse, there’s even less than usual.
During one restless night he woke up at 2:30 a.m. with an idea for a video — messages of hope submitted by people with their phones. That morning he called his friend Gord Deppe of Canadian band Spoons to pitch it.
After working on other awardwinning videos for the band, Sacco had Deppe’s full confidence. The concept was simple: Deppe would reach out to some of his celebrity friends for video clips, while Sacco would do the same with many of his Niagara Falls contacts.
Within two weeks, they had everything they needed and last Friday the inspiring video for the Spoons’ song “New Day New World” debuted on YouTube.
In addition to singers such as
Bif Naked, Alan Frew (Glass Tiger) and Corey Hart, the video features Niagara Falls personalities including YourTV producer Jack Custers, singer Evan Rotella, writer Michael Clarkson, MPP Wayne Gates, Mayor Jim Diodati and blues guitarist
John (T Bone) Little. All flashing personal messages designed to raise spirits.
“Nobody took a penny for any of this, it was total zero budget,” says Sacco. “I wanted to create something that would give hope.”
Sacco, a university professor and host of former Cogeco show “Niagara’s Most Haunted,” has seen many of his friends and students struggle with their mental health the past few weeks. Some were “beside themselves” with panic and fear.
It drove him to make a video that avoided the “doom and gloom” people have immersed themselves in on social media.
“I thought, what we need to do is start to create something hopeful, something that’s positive.”
The song is the title track from the Spoons’ 2019 album, and once Sacco digested the lyrics, he knew it had the perfect message for right now.
“It’s about being compassionate, and basically caring enough about people,” he says. “Whatever egos or selfishness that exists, time to put those aside. We’ve got to create a new world.”
Including so many Niagara Falls faces brings it even closer to home for him.
“There were so many that jumped on board immediately,” he says. “Within a New York minute they said, ‘Please count me in.’ My hat goes off to those people. I love them to death.”